Like a Shot to the Face
by GraycefulChaos
Summary: There is a new recruit aboard the helicarrier and there is something off about him. Stark is curious, Clint is scared, Bruce wants everyone to leave him alone and Fury just wants this settled. Non-magic. Possible Slash.


**AN: Warnings: Possible slash in later parts (this is not negotiable, but I'm not sure yet if it'll happen). Total AU for the Potter Verse. No magic. Mentions of child abuse. Profanity. Violence probably. I'm using very little if nothing from the comics.**

**Sorry, I was supposed to be working on another story but this just kept driving me nuts and I had to start it. When I get this out of my system I can work on the other one. Also, I read through it a few times for mistakes. That means there are probably more. I couldn't keep it to myself though.**

!(o_O)!

James Black took a moment to examine his surroundings. He was being ushered onto the helicarrier along with five others. Within moments of entering the ship the recruits were introduced to the ship's leading scientists. Tony Stark grinned at them as Bruce Banner quickly assessed them before Tony started to speak.

"So… these are the new guys? Great, awesome. Let's go."

The agent in charge of escorting the new recruits withheld a sigh. "Mister Stark, not all of these recruits are here for the Department of Engineering and Development (D.E.D.). Please, let us get them settled and we will send those that are capable of working with you to your lab."

"Yes, of course. What was I thinking? Not like we need to get a leg up on the bad guys."

"Tony…" Banner tried to stop his friend from continuing.

"Oh, sorry. Heh. Leg up. No no, no fraternizing with the enemy. But seriously, things to blow up, let's move this along." Tony tried to herd them towards his lab before Bruce grabbed him and looked at the group as if to say _He's an idiot, I'm sorry_ and pulled Stark away from them.

James glanced at his fellow recruits and held back a small smile. Only three of them were there for the D.E.D. positions including him and he could tell from their shocked faces and nervous demeanor that he would probably be the only left by the end of the next few weeks. He would just have to keep his head low and try not to draw too much attention to himself, otherwise he was sure to get into some sort of trouble and he couldn't really afford to get kicked out of SHIELD.

!

James was working on a small piece of electronics that Stark had thrown at the new recruits. He had made sure not to do anything too interesting, but at the same time was trying to make sure it wasn't obvious that he was avoiding attention. Hiding in plain sight works just fine, but if you're with paranoid people it will not help to be too quiet. Then people think you're up to no good.

Stark was trying to creep up behind him before shouting, "Black! What are you up to?"

"I'm working on repairing this… thing you gave me." James was unaffected by the sudden appearance.

"This 'thing'? You don't even know what it is? Give it back. Give it back now. I'm going to Fury and demanding competent help. Why do you not know what this is? At some point you took classes in engineering, right?" Tony wasn't pleased. Apparently none of the new kids were worth his time.

"Um, no Sir. I was unaware it was a requirement." Now Tony was worried for their future. This is was SHIELD thought was going to save the world. Hopes and hard work? No. It takes knowledge and a little bit of crazy.

"O….M….G…. we are all going to DIE because NO ONE has the basic knowledge required to work in their own field." Tony kept the piece of tech out of reach as if Black might try to snatch it back.

"Sir, it's not that I don't… wait, what is Oh Em Gee?"

"… Oh my God." His look clearly said _You're an idiot_.

"I'm sorry, I just don't know what that means. Is it a pop culture reference? I don't get out much."

"I can't even. I'm sending Banner in here next time."

"But Mister Stark, you still have my..." Black stopped talking as Tony sprinted out the door.

Stark got as far as Banner's lab before stopping and looking down to see what damage that new guy had done to his hard work. He was more than a bit surprised.

"Oh. He fixed it. Huh."

!

"Brucey face, why was that quiet yet attentive newbie able to repair a piece of my unreleased tech? Have you been having words with him? He's got that whole foreign accent thing going on and really he's not bad on the eyes." He thought about the boy. He looked to be in his early twenties with jet black hair and murky brown eyes. He had ridiculous glasses and was kind of short. It looked like he wore baggy clothing under his lab coat, but it wasn't hard to tell that he was lean. One thing that stood out was the scar that he tried to cover up with his bangs on his forehead. Probably a childhood accident. "Don't share our secrets with him. They're for your cute ears only."

Banner rolled his eyes. "What are you on about now? I haven't even spoken to him yet. Go away."

"Hmm. Interesting." Tony held up the piece of electronics he had snatched from that strange kid and glared at it with great intensity.

"No. Whenever you say 'Interesting' it ends up badly. So whatever you are planning, just stop it before Fury goes through with his threats to disembowel you. I'm not cleaning that up."

!

He felt like he was in a boat, floating on a lake. The sun was shining and he could hear voices and he responded. He could see problems and fix them. He couldn't feel any pain or anxiety, but he knew he needed to keep hidden. Something wasn't right. He was living in two different worlds at one time. James was fighting to keep himself from losing himself to the lake, but every time he pulled close enough to the surface of what he assumed was reality he would feel the tug back under. This wasn't his life. He only hoped someone would remember him and come to save him. He knows they would.

They owed him.

!

Clint was irritated. He made sure to hunt down each new member of SHEILD and scare the shit out of them. The little scientist with the muddy brown eyes wasn't cooperating. Maybe it was those stupid round glasses of his. He probably couldn't tell what was going on around him. James Black had calmly ignored every attempt Barton had made at breaking him in. Clint jumped down from an air duct in front of him, he just stepped to the side and motioned for him to pass. Barton nearly shot him in the face with an arrow as he walked into a room, James paused for a moment to look at the arrow and then continued to be on his way. It's like the kid had no sense of survival. He was too calm. Like he wasn't fully in his own skin. Barton understood this feeling and it concerned him. It concerned him enough that he went to Agent Coulson with his fears.

!

Agent Coulson did not like to see his favorite archer upset. Especially since he knew it was from fear. Of course Agent Barton had not said anything about fear, but it was enough to know that Loki's influence had almost shattered Clint's world. To chance that another individual among them could do the same damage without knowing what was going on scared him. It concerned Phil enough to take this to Fury.

!

"Mister Black, thank you for coming to this meeting today." Fury paced around the conference room as all of the Avenger team minus Thor were present. Black was at the end of the long table as the others sat along the sides and away from him.

"Of course, Sir." James felt he should be worried at this point. Something was definitely wrong.

"We wanted you to be aware that we are interested in our new recruits and that we would like to know more about you. There is very little information in your file. This concerns us as we are known for being very thorough." Fury narrowed his eyes at the new scientist and James was absolutely sure that this was not good.

"Oh. I just, really haven't been up to much. Did a little studying, decided I liked science stuff. Applied for SHEILD, got recruited. Smiled a lot, got sent up here. Not really sure why. If I make you uncomfortable, you can send me back." _Can't really say that I don't remember, now can I? _James thought as Fury continued to pace.

"What concerns us most of all Mister Black, is that your file flagged the British offices. I'm sure we'll be getting a visit from them soon. Tell me why I shouldn't lock you up until they get here."

James had no idea. They could lock him up. He didn't know what to say.

"I'm really confused. Why am I in a room with the Avengers? Did I do something wrong? I don't know what you want me to tell you."

"I want you to tell me the truth." Fury's eye twitched a second after he said that because he knew what was coming next.

Tony Stark just didn't know when to let a serious moment be serious. "You can't handle the truth!"

"Stark, shut up!"

"Sorry." Clearly he wasn't.

A head appeared in the doorway soon followed by a suited body. "Sir, the representatives are here. They wish to speak with you."

"Fine. Bring them here."

Two identical men with red hair stepped into the room. Both had a bit of a grin on their face and if they weren't trying to look so professional Banner would have laughed. One of them spoke, "Hello. I'm Agent George and this is Agent Fred."

"They're lying. It's the other way around." Both men look startled for a quick moment as they glanced at Black after he spoke.

The one claiming to be George pouted, "Oi! Quiet you! Malfoy's pissed. He wants to talk to you."

The wall to the left of the door opened up to show a large monitor. On the screen was the face of a handsome young man with blonde hair. Stark estimated him to be in his late twenties.

"Potter, why are you on that aircraft? We've been looking all over for you." Black was startled by the name, the face that his mind was trying to tell him he had never seen before still made him feel safe.

"Ah, I'm sorry. You must be mistaken. My name is James Black." He felt his mind being tugged in different directions again. This time he was making farther away from the lake.

Malfoy glared at him. "Are you mental? Fury, did he get hit on the head?"

"Not as far as we know. His behavior was not what is expected of a man in his position. That is why we were looking further into his records. No one is sure how he made it this far."

The blonde took a deep breath before starting his explanation. "Okay, Mister Black. Please listen carefully; Your name is Harry Potter. You were an active agent for SHIELD for the past eight years until about six months ago. You managed to anger the man that was the puppet master for the United Nations. Which, good on you for that because he was a prick. Somehow you managed to evade him for two years prior. Eight months ago you were captured and tortured by Mister Riddle and after two months you were released with your agent status revoked. Somehow in your drug induced haze you managed to create a very sad but effective false personnel file and inserted it into the SHIELD archive. Unfortunately you remember nothing other than that you are supposed to be hiding. What I can tell you now, Mister Potter is that you have nothing to fear from Riddle. He has been disposed of. I am his replacement. Now, take off those horrid glasses. They've been poisoning you. No wonder you couldn't shake off the drug, you never got rid of it. You don't need glasses, you have perfect eyesight. The agents I have sent to you will give you an antidote to the toxins in your system."

"Ah. I knew something was wrong with me." Everyone in the room was startled by the confession, just as much as they were the story that the man on the screen had just told.

James removed his glasses and warily accepted the vial that was handed to him by one of the twin agents. He looked to those in the room drank down the liquid. He could feel his eyes start to water and he felt tears dripping down his face.

Bruce gasped as he watched the man's eyes change. The murky brown was slowly seeping out. It was a bright red liquid that was too bright to be blood, pulling the dirty color from the cornea and leaving behind the brightest green eyes he had ever seen. The other guy stirred inside of him, unsure if this change implied a fight was going to occur.

Natasha and Clint tensed in preparation as did Steve. Tony just stood and watched with childlike curiosity.

Harry felt an itching in his throat and coughed lightly trying to clear it. It wouldn't quite go away and soon the coughing turned into hacking. He felt as if something was trying to crawl its way up his throat. This time the red liquid came out of his nose and mouth. As his vision started to darken from air loss, his memories were coming back to him. He remembered fighting Riddle. He remembered his time in school with Fred and George and their family. He remembered fighting with Malfoy and then becoming close friends. He remembered the torture, both from Riddle and from his childhood.

As the last bit of red flowed out of his mouth, he stood up and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth to remove some of the mess.

"Feel better?" Malfoy asked.

"Much."

"Good. Do you want to come back here or stay there? Nothing much going on around here."

"You've gotten rid of him?" Potter looked like he wasn't sure he wanted the answer.

"Yeah, sorry. You weren't around and he pissed off too many people."

"Right. I kind of like it here. I'll stay a bit, yeah?" He knew he should probably ask his hosts first, but really, they'd get a good agent out of it.

"Fine. Just send Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum back before they blow something up. I'm releasing parts of your real file to Director Fury." He looked towards Fury, "Sorry, some things are need to know. You're stuck with that one for a while. Give him a few days before you send him out on a mission. He needs time for his system to recover, but don't bother sending him to see your medical staff. He'll just figure out how to get out of it anyway and it's not bad enough to warrant the trouble he'll cause."

Fred and George argued quietly over which was Tweedle Dee and which was Tweedle Dum.

"Hey. Wait a second. Just I just lose a lackey?"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Tony, your priorities regarding this situation concerns me."

!


End file.
